Whilst his closest rivals from the previous round at Nogaro experienced mixed fortunes between Qualifying and Race 3, Guillaume Bouzar enjoyed a solid weekend, securing two victories and a top-six finish in Race 2. He has once again scored the most points in this second round of the FIA-certified French F4 Championship and has consolidated his lead in the Championship.
On the fast and spectacular Dijon-Prenois circuit, the 32 young hopefuls of the FFSA Academy enjoyed cool but dry weather during the three races of the weekend. However, on Friday, changeable weather conditions led to some surprising starting grids. Guillaume Bouzar managed this tricky situation to secure a double pole position, which he immediately converted into a victory in Race 1 ahead of Hugo Herrouin and the Belgian Thibaut Ramaekers. The latter put in a superb performance in Race 2, winning after starting from 7th position. American Jack Iliffe and Jules Avril took the opportunity to celebrate their first podium finishes in this competition.
Race 3: A lively battle behind Guillaume Bouzar
For the Championship leader, Race 3 was very much a repeat of the first: a start from pole position, two well-managed safety car periods, and a lead maintained from start to finish, complete with another fastest lap. Guillaume Bouzar did, however, have to stay focused to keep Lilian Soares at bay, who had been in excellent form throughout the weekend. Soares played a game of cat and mouse with Jack Iliffe and Tom Dussol. The three drivers finished within a hair’s breadth of each other. Dussol pushed hard right to the end to secure a podium finish, before settling for a solid result following a cruel run of bad luck since Nogaro.
Dijon provided the perfect stage for Keyan Shane Chandaria to shine, with a remarkable comeback from 12th to 5th place. Jules Avril rounded off a positive weekend with another podium finish, taking 6th place ahead of Thibaut Ramaekers. The Belgian impressed with his 15-place climb up the field. Notably, he overtook Nicolas Pasquier, Maverick McKenna and Jimmy Hélias towards the end of the race, with these three drivers taking the final points awarded in this lively race. The tyre strategies chosen by each driver across the three races contributed to the intensity of the Burgundy event.
However, three drivers who started from advantageous positions in the top eight on the grid faced setbacks: Austrian Clara Stiebleichinger, Hugo Herrouin and Australian Lewis Francis, who failed to achieve the result they had hoped for.
Angelina Proenca takes the lead in the women’s standings
Finishing 13th overall behind Oscar Goudchaux and Japan’s Kota Tsuchihashi, Lisa Billard secured another victory in the women’s category in this Race 3 ahead of Angelina Proenca, who made significant progress in the overall standings. She now leads the French F4 Women’s Championship ahead of Dutch driver Annabelle Brian and Austrian Clara Stiebleichinger. Canadian Autumn Fisher also demonstrated her progress in Dijon.
> Race 3 Standings
1 Guillaume Bouzar (France) with 18 laps
2 Lilian Soares (France) at 1.946
3 Jack Iliffe (USA) at 2.753
4 Tom Dussol (France) at 3.084
5 Shane Chandaria (Kenya) at 9.692
6 Jules Avril (France) at 10.493
7 Thibaut Ramaekers (Belgium) at 10.619
8 Nicolas Pasquier (France) at 11.042
9 Maverick Mckenna (USA) at 11.925
10 Jimmy Helias (France) at 12.906
11 Oscar Goudchaux (France) at 13.574
12 Kota Tsuchihashi (Japan) at 13.909
13 Lisa Billard (France) at 16.216 *
14 Angelina Proenca (France) at 18.134 *
15 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands) at 18.615 *
16 Arthur Eschalier (France) at 19.223
17 Kyler Cheezum (USA) with 19.992
18 Sasha Beisemann (Paraguay) with 20.750
19 Autumn Fisher (Canada) with 23.208 *
20 Jade Jacquet (France) with 23.345 *
21 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy) at 24.290 *
22 Héloïse Goldberg (France) at 29.524 *
23 Wojciech Woda (Poland) at 31.131
24 Isabella Abreu (Cuba) at 51.959 *
25 Lewis Francis (Australia) with 17 laps
26 Hugo Herrouin (France) with 17 laps
27 Paul Gleizes (France) with 17 laps
28 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria) with 17 laps *
29 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco) with 13 laps
30 Matthéo Dauvergne (France) with 4 laps
31 Yuval Rosen (Israel) with 4 laps
32 Thomas Senecloze (France) with 0 laps
FL: Bouzar 1:17.219 (avg. 177.2 km/h)
* Women
> Women’s Race 3
1 Lisa Billard (France)
2 Angelina Proenca (France)
3 Annabelle Brian (Netherlands)
4 Autumn Fisher (Canada)
5 Jade Jacquet (France)
6 Ginevra Panzeri (Italy)
7 Héloïse Goldberg (France)
8 Isabella Abreu (Cuba)
9 Clara Stiebleichinger (Austria)
10 Sofia Zanfari (Morocco)
> Standings after Dijon
F4 Academy: 1 Bouzar 99 pts, 2 Soares 53 pts, 3 Herrouin and Ramaekers (BEL) 52 pts, 5 Iliffe (USA) 33 pts, 6 Goudchaux 32 pts, 7 Dauvergne 28 pts, 8 Tsuchihashi (JPN) 27 pts, 9 Francis (AUS) 24 pts, 10 Avril 22 pts, 11 Rosen (ISR) 13 pts, 12 Chandaria (KEN) and Dussol 12 pts, 14 Helias 9 pts, 15 Eschalier 8 pts, 16 Pasquier 7 pts, 17 McKenna (USA) 6 pts, 18 Woda (POL) 1 pt.
Women’s F4: 1 Proenca 95 pts, 2 Brian (NED) 76 pts, 3 Stiebleichinger (AUT) 68 pts, 4 Goldberg 60 pts, 5 Abreu (CUB) 42 pts, 6 Zanfari (MAR) 26 pts, etc.
Photo © KSP – Guillaume Veuve
